After a series of embarrassing failures of disaster alerts in Hawaii and elsewhere, experts are calling for a move towards a national system. According to a Reuters article, a review is being requested for regional disaster alerts for weather events such as hurricanes and wildfires, and also security warnings such as missile alerts. “For all practical purposes we don’t really have a national warning system,” Dennis Mileti, professor emeritus at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said to Reuters.
Mileti told Reuters about the results of a FEMA panel earlier this year that was convened to revamp the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). The goal was to centralize the alert system instead of relying on state or local agencies — improving training, disseminating warnings from reputable sources and giving specific actions for people in danger to take.
Reuters also spoke to Adam Rose, professor at the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy and predictive analysis expert.“Is it better to be safe and have some evacuations that turn out be unnecessary, which can incur some economic costs and even create a slim danger of death or injury? Or is it better to not be safe enough?” asks Rose.
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